From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Should Americans be having more babies?

Hello again, I'm Alan Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

In the late 1960s, Paul

Ehrlich warned that a population bomb was creating so many people they wouldn't be able to feed

themselves within 20 years. A new book called What to Expect When No One's Expecting is claiming

the opposite. The root of America's problems is that the birth rates declining. That means

too few workers to care for the elderly, innovate, and keep the economy growing.

Is raising children just too expensive?

Are liberated women working instead of staying home?

What about abortion and contraception?

Debate about population raises a host of hot-button issues, including immigration reform.

If we're not producing enough people, why not import them?

First, here's the news.

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Hello again, Warren Alney, back with To the Point.

Warnings about a population explosion are being pushed aside by the fact that America's birth rate is on the decline.

That's true in other parts of the industrial world as well.

Will that lead to economic disaster?

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